"Dublin GAA would be dead if Bertie hadn't got involved"

"Dublin GAA would be dead if Bertie hadn't got involved"

While Dublin GAA are basking in the glory of five All Ireland titles in the past seven years, the decade and a half between that was sometimes one of near-misses and failure in the Championship.

That dark period is the focus of a new book by The Irish Sun Head of News Neil Cotter appropriately titled, 'Dublin: The Chaos Years'.

He joined Nathan Murphy to discuss the stories and insights from the book and one bit he touched on was the influence former Taoiseach and Minister of Finance Bertie Ahern - a high-profile fan of his native county - had on the roots of Dublin's growth.

"The redevelopment of Parnell Park as well, he secured I think half a million from the state coffers for that," Cotter explained.

"And he even says in the book that he still has the spade from the ground-breaking and keeps it out in his shed.

"Every time he goes out to do the gardening, he has to decide, 'I better not use that spade'. But he also got them the money for the floodlights then as well for Parnell Park which before the redevelopment, it wasn't fit for purpose basically.

"So Bertie was heavily involved in redeveloping Parnell Park and he was also a central character in this professionalisation of the coaching structures across the city as well. So, again another fella who was much-maligned but as one player said to me, 'Dublin GAA would be dead if Bertie hadn't got involved.'"